


Method Acting

by siderealSandman



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aggressive Sexual Tension, F/M, Heists, Master Thief AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:38:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9053683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siderealSandman/pseuds/siderealSandman
Summary: (or How Ladrien Stole Christmas) Infiltrating the home of an international drug dealer was only the second most intense part of Adrien Agreste's Christmas. The first was when his partner kissed him full on the mouth and dragged him into an alcove.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkReyna16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkReyna16/gifts).



 

_“Do you have eyes on him, Noir?”_

 

Adrien nodded, taking a small sip from his champagne glass as he surveyed the bustling ballroom. “Grey Armani suit on the balcony,” he muttered into his lapel pin as casually as he could.

 

“ _I didn’t see anyone like that go in…now if you’re talking about the man in the grey Colosseo suit-”_

“Forgive me for not being able to identify suits across a crowded ballroom,” Adrien sighed, shaking his head as he approached the balcony.

 

“ _That’s why you’re on schmooze duty instead of scaling this bloody wall.”_

“I thought I was on schmooze duty because of my charming personality,” Adrien said, snatching a second champagne glass from a passing waitress as he walked.

 

_“Please don’t make me laugh while I’m dangling ten stories over the ocean.”_

 

Adrien suppressed a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder at the man in the ten-gallon hat drunkenly hitting on a waitress in the corner. “Operation Alamo is going to go off in a minute here so you may want to pick up the pace.”

 

_“Did you really convince him that the hostess was hitting on him?”_

“Wasn’t hard; guys like that think all women are interested in them,” Adrien said, kneeling down and pretending to tie his shoelace. “Of course, a charming young Frenchman bought him a few too many drinks, so when he gets up to follow her-”

 

A massive splintering crash cut across the band as the man went crashing through his table, drawing the security guards away from the balcony to go help him up.

 

“-that happens,” Adrien said, picking up the champagne glasses as he continued walking towards the balcony.

 

_“How do I look?”_

“Can’t see you, currently, but I assume you’re your usual ravishing self.”

 

“ _Chat…”_

“He’s looking out across the balcony; give me a moment,” Adrien said, stepping through the balcony doors. “ _Buenos noches, Señor Arriola.”_

The man in the grey suit turned, glaring at Adrien as he offered him a champagne glass.

 

“ _Puedo ofrecerle un vaso de champán?”_ Adrien said hopefully.

 

 _“Quien…quien eres?”_ Luis Arriola said, backing up against the balcony. “ _Donde estan mis escoltas-hrrk!”_

Arriola was suddenly jerked backwards as a pair of arms wrapped around his neck, cutting off his cry for help as Adrien set the glasses down on the balcony.

 

“Thank _god_ ,” Adrien sighed, closing the balcony doors as Ladybug quietly choked the man behind him. “That was all the Spanish I managed to learn before this assignment; there would have been a lot of _donde esta la biblioteca_ if you hadn’t shown up.”

 

A dim _thud_ came behind him as Arriola toppled forward, tugging his partner up over the ledge and onto the balcony as he turned around. Dressed in a sleek, black wetsuit with dark red highlights, Ladybug perched on the balcony, taking a small sip of her champagne as Adrien locked the doors.

 

“Do you think we have time to hit the wine cellar after we clean out his vault?” Ladybug asked, glancing at the glass with an approving nod. “I’d like to carry out a couple more bottles of whatever this is.”

 

“Cristal Rose,” Adrien said, taking a small sip and smacking his lips. “Two thousand and…six I believe?”

 

“ _This_ is why you’re on schmooze duty,” Ladybug said, dragging a bag up onto the railing. “You pass for a snob.”

 

“I learned from a professional,” Adrien said, glancing in the ballroom as the American was being escorted from the premises. “No time to do your hair, unfortunately.”

 

“I’ll make it quick, then…unzip me?” Adrien turned around to see his partner expose the zipper on her wetsuit, hair bunched over one shoulder as she looked at him expectantly. He thought their procurement specialist would have got her a suit that she could take off herself, but Wifi never missed an opportunity to ruffle his feathers; especially where their lovely infiltration specialist was confirmed.

 

Licking his lips, he stepped forward, taking the zipper and slowly tugging it down, exposing more freckled skin than he had seen in the year or so they’d worked together. Being part of a budding crew of master thieves had its perks; travel, salary, the chance to rob the kind of wealthy assholes Adrien had spent his childhood kissing up to. But while the thrill of the heist kept him coming back for more, he would have gladly parted with every dollar her ever stole for a solitary kiss.

 

It was pathetic, he thought as he lowered the zipper further and further towards her hips. He didn’t even know her name or what she did when she wasn’t stealing from Europe’s wealthiest monsters. And yet, try as he might, he found his thoughts straying to her, even as he pretended to be his father’s dutiful son.

 

“You done?” Ladybug asked, turning her head to glance up at him with a small smirk. “I think any more and you’ll leave me indecent up here.”

 

Adrien’s gaze dropped to where the zipper rested on the small of her back, summoning all of his willpower to look away as she shimmied out of her wetsuit. “I can’t imagine you being anything less than decent.”

 

“Don’t turn around then,” Ladybug chuckled, tossing her wetsuit over the balcony as she ruffled around in the duffel bag. “Wouldn’t want to sully your mental image of me.”

 

He didn’t have the heart to tell her his mental image of her was already sullied by his own frustrated fantasies, amplified by the fact that a very naked Ladybug was changing into something a little more suitable behind him.

 

Instead he focused on the people inside, picking out the oldest and least attractive among them to distract himself from the tell-tale sound of stockings snapping against thighs behind him. The fear of getting discovered before they could make it to Arriola’s safe wasn’t quite enough to overpower the desire to turn around and watch Ladybug slowly slip into the red silk number she had chosen especially for this occasion. Focusing on his job, he pulled out a small palm-pad, pressing the unconscious Arriola’s hand against it for a moment as the screen made an imprint. Holding his eyes open, Adrien also scanned his retina, pocketed his keycard, and swiped his wallet for good measure. Fixing him with a secure harness he fished out of Ladybug’s bag (doing everything he could to ignore the black lace thong that lay on top of it), he secured the unconscious Arriola and slowly lowered him over the balcony on a thick black rope until he came to a rest on a natural rock outcropping beneath them.

 

“Zip me?” Ladybug asked, calling Adrien’s attention back across the balcony. He turned around to see the faintest hint of black lace peeking out of the open back of a dark red dress supported only by Ladybug’s arms pressing it to her body. Again his fingers closed around the zipper, and for a moment he imagined a gasp coming from her lips as he dragged the zipper up to the middle of her back.

 

“Thanks,” Ladybug said, turning around to look up at him. “How do I look?”

 

Adrien’s eyes glanced her over for a moment. “You _know_ how you look.”

 

“Maybe I’d like to hear it,” Ladybug said, reaching out and adjusting Adrien’s tie. “I don’t want to think I put this whole outfit together only to go unnoticed.”

 

“You’re not unnoticed,” Adrien said, resisting the urge to run his hands up her bare arms.

 

“Really?” Ladybug said, raising an eyebrow. “By…who?”

 

“ _By me,”_ Wifi’s voice chirped in their ears. “ _Do you two want to get on with this or should we put the brakes on this heist so the two of you can take care of this unresolved sexual tension?”_

“We’re going in as dates,” Adrien said, scratching the back of his head. “We’re just-”

 

“-getting into character,” Ladybug said, adjusting her dress.

 

 _“Riiiiiight,”_ Wifi said as Ladybug and Adrien stepped back into the ballroom. “ _Look, you have about half an hour to get into the vault and plant the tracker so Bubbles knows where to blow the roof. Fireworks start at nine, people, and I have a hot tub for two with my name on it at the safehouse. So keep the flirting to a minimum, mkay?”_

“Didn’t tell us to stop,” Adrien muttered, coughing as Ladybug turned to look at him. “Shall we?”

 

“You don’t want to buy me a drink first?” Ladybug chuckled, clutching her pocketbook to her side and nodding over to the holly wreathed bar. “Never been to one of these swanky charity Christmas parties before.”

 

“I think we both know where the money is going, and it’s not to the Boys and Girls club,” Adrien said, steering Marinette towards the back of the ballroom.

 

“If it makes you feel better, we can always donate some of tonight’s proceedings to the animal shelter or something,” Ladybug shrugged, hooking her arm through Adrien’s and tugging him back a few steps as a security guard rushed past, muttering furiously into his earpiece. “How long until they find our friend?”

 

“Since you were the one who choked him?” Adrien shrugged. “Not until midnight if we’re lucky.”

 

“If we’re not?”

 

“Then we freefall three stories into the van, try not to die, and make it to the border before Arriola’s private army gets on top of us,” Adrien muttered.

 

“ _That is quitter talk, Mr. Noir,”_ Wifi chirped in his earpiece. _“You’re not second guessing my battle plan, are you?”_

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Adrien sighed.

 

 _“Good…now if you two are finished being adorable, we have a drug dealer to fleece,”_ Wifi said as their earpieces cut to static.

 

“She mad?” Ladybug asked.

 

“Tense, I think,” Adrien said, hand sliding down Ladybug’s back and steering her towards the stairs. “This gig could set us up for a while.”

 

Ladybug’s vision trailed off into the distance, a small smile twitching at her lips before her bright blue eyes hardened, clearing a path through the crowd towards a hallway that disappeared under the stairs. He never asked her what she used their less than good gotten gains for; only that she never seemed to be interested in amassing obvious trappings of wealth. Maybe it was because she knew how quickly someone could be off with jewelry, antiques, and cars…or maybe she had a family to support somewhere. Mother, father…husband? Children?

 

He had no idea; time and again, he was struck by how little he knew the woman who he couldn’t seem to get out of his mind.

 

“You have the key?” Ladybug asked, shaking him out of his self-deprecating thoughts.

 

“Jacket pocket,” Adrien murmured. “Elevator at the end of the hallway should get us down to the basement.”

 

“So long as we don’t get picked up by the guards along the way,” Ladybug said, glancing over her shoulder at a pair of guards who were whispering feverishly to one another. “I think they noticed their boss is missing.”

 

“Pick up the pace then?” Adrien said, guiding Ladybug on as they made their way into the hallway.

 

“Aren’t we going to draw attention leaving the party like this?” Ladybug asked. “What’s our excuse if we get caught?”

 

Adrien thought of a few entertaining excuses, before pushing them out of his mind as they walked on. “We’ll think of something.”

 

“ _Think fast,”_ Bubbles’ voice came through the earpieces. “ _I patched into the guards’ closed communication system and you got two coming your way.”_

“Fabulous,” Ladybug said, tugging Adrien towards the ballroom.

 

 _“And two coming down from the ballroom,”_ Bubbles said, as a pair of dark shadows and heavy footfalls came from the ballroom. _“They’re not onto you, but they will be if you’re just standing there like a couple of goonies.”_

 

“Shit,” Adrien muttered, glancing back and forth up and down the hallway. There were no easily accessible hiding spots; no rooms they could duck into to avoid detection. Only an alcove that would do more to frame them than hide them. “Any ideas.”

 

“One,” Ladybug said, licking her lips as she glanced between the sound of approaching guards and Adrien’s face. “You trust me?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then…follow my lead.”

 

“What did you have in m- _mmph_!”

 

Adrien’s breath left his chest as Ladybug grabbed his lapels, tugging him backwards into the small alcove as she tugged him into a rough, hungry kiss. His startled yelp was swallowed by Ladybug’s mouth as her arms wrapped around her neck, breaking the kiss long enough to whisper _“Like you mean it_ ” in his ear.

 

_I do._

 

Ladybug yelped as his hands slipped under her legs, lips, teeth, and tongue tangling with his as he lifted her up, pinning her against the wall. If she wanted a performance, she was going to get one; one she wasn’t going to forget anytime soon. If this was the only chance he was ever going to have to kiss Ladybug, he was going to make every panting kiss, gasp, and squeeze count. He was going to burn the sensation of Ladybug’s stocking covered legs wrapping around his waist into his memory, savor the sensation of her hands twisting in his hair for every second he could. To her credit, she was a fantastic actress; the small, breathy moans that slipped from her neck as he pressed his lips against it. It was almost too much; to have so many fantasies realized in such a short period of time. His head swam, hands roaming over every inch he thought was appropriate.

 

This was, after all, just a ruse.

 

“Hey, what are you two doi-” With a low growl, Adrien broke off his kiss, turning around to face a flustered guard who had walked in on them with a glare that could peel paint.

 

 _“D-Desole,”_ Ladybug squeaked, smoothing her dress out in mock mortification.

_“Puis-je vous aider?”_ Adrien said, venom dripping from every syllable.

 

“I uh…e-enjoy the party,” the security guard said, quickly turning and heading into the ballroom.

 

Letting out a strangle growl as they left, he turned back to Ladybug, studying her expression as he waited for the guards to trail off into the distance.

 

“We…we should get going,” Ladybug said, brushing past him and heading towards the elevator at the end of the hall. He watched her go for a moment, listening to her heels clack against the Venetian marble floor as he brought himself back to cold, unsatisfying reality.

 

Taking a breath, he pressed on after her. There was still work to do; and not much time to do it.

 

* * *

 

“Not even a real Rembrandt,” Bubbles sighed, dropping the fake painting they lifted from Arriola’s vault onto floor of the safe house living room. The rest of the heist had gone off without a hitch. The vault had been infiltrated, the safe had been blown, and the van had been loaded with so much valuables that the shocks sagged as they escaped the vicinity. Two hours later, the gang was holed up at a safe house overlooking the Riviera, counting their stolen loot and preparing it for the fence.

 

“Gold’s real,” Wifi shrugged, running her fingers over the bar of gold she had been caressing since they had loaded the van with it. “Think we can move these?”

 

“My guy in Milan can,” Bubbles shrugged as Adrien slowly stood up from his seat. “You hittin’ the hay, man?”

 

“Might as well,” Adrien said with a lazy stretch. Ladybug had been quiet all night, lost in thought even as they had cleaned out Arriola’s vault and made off with most of his laundered plunder. The gnawing sensation that he had gone too far in his play-kissing had haunted him all the way to the safe house, even as Ladybug had disappeared upstairs with a smile and a wave goodnight. He had resisted the urge to follow her, hanging out with Wifi and Bubbles for a few hours until he was sure the heat had died down a little.

 

It was her idea, but Adrien still felt the need to apologize. Perhaps in the morning.

 

Climbing the stairs, he made his way to the little corner bedroom he would crash in for the night, pushing the door open with his foot with a long, tired sigh. “Hell of a night,” he muttered to himself.

 

“Certainly was.”

 

Adrien froze, eyes falling on the figure sitting on his bed. Ladybug balanced a pair of glasses in one hand, and a cheap bottle of champagne in the other, sitting up a little as he walked in.

 

“You’re a good actor,” Ladybug said, slowly standing up and wrenching the cork off with her teeth and spitting it across the room.

 

“Well,” Adrien said, swallowing heavily. “Y-You know what they say…element of truth in every good performance.”

 

“Do they?” Ladybug said, setting the glasses down on the nightstand and filling them with half-flat bubbly. “I wonder which parts…”

 

“Are you…asking?” Adrien said, heart thudding in his ears as Ladybug regarded him over the rim of her glass with a slowly spreading smile.

 

“Maybe this is a conversation we should have in private,” Ladybug suggested, offering Adrien a glass as she nodded towards the open door. “Wouldn’t want to…disturb our friends.”

 

“Right,” Adrien said, turning to close the door and stopping. “Uh…you’re not _married_ are you?”

 

“Noir?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Close the damn door.”

**Author's Note:**

> Christmas gift for DarkReyna16!


End file.
